SUMMARY
Utilizing queer theory, this paper investigates the ways in which Victorian and neo- Victorian novels portray queer father figures, analyzing the differences and similarities between contemporary and nineteenth-century representations. Sarah Waters’ Fingersmith has birthed a plethora of research on female same-sex desire in neo-Victorian forms, because of the intimate connection between, and crises of identity experienced by, the narrators Sue and Maud. Though this text has inspired significant research in the fields of queer and feminist theories, the uncle character of Christopher Lilly remains a marginal figure in analyzing the text’s representations of sexualities, despite his perversity. Similarly, in Wilkie Collins’ The Woman in White, scholarship treating the uncle character of Frederick Fairlie and comparisons of his character to contemporary representations of queer remain minimal. This paper explores the unusual, queer, or Other sexualities of the father figures in these texts with the aim of illuminating similarities and differences between Victorian and contemporary notions of the queer father figure.